Hi Friends! WOW! We’ve received an overwhelming response to our Chocal Excursion and our posts about our recent Fathom Travel cruise on the Royal Princess. So many emails, messages and questions about Fathom excursions.

If you’re unaware of Fathom or what they do, it’s cool. We didn’t know either. This is from the Fathom site: Fathom is a travel experience that delivers the best of both worlds – a true vacation and an opportunity to give back.

It’s really so much more than that. The next two comments on the Fathom site really sums it up for me personally: Travel brings us closer. It’s our first step toward understanding one another and the global challenges we all face.
Take the first step. It’s the one that matters. It moves you closer to others. It brings you closer to yourself. Great things happen the closer we get.
That last statement is no joke. You absolutely become closer to others and yourself after these experiences.

Before I go any further, I’d like to thank the amazing humans at Fathom Travel and Princess Cruise Line for being awesome and providing events like this. I truly look forward to more Fathom cruises in 2019, wherever they may be.

Here’s the thing: We’re getting hundreds of emails saying things like “The Fathom Cruise looked AWESOME! When is the next cruise? What can I do on my next cruise?”

Both Fantastic Questions! Thank you for being awesome! Here’s everything you need to know about the awesome that is Fathom Travel.

Question One: What Can I do on My Next Cruise?

Well, if you’re cruising with Holland America, Princess Cruises, P&O, Cunard, Carnival, AIDA or Costa, you’re in luck! There are amazing Fathom excursions available to you! Thank you to Fathom for this awesome graphic that breaks down the ship, the excursion and the locations available:

For any of you who may find the above graphic confusing, here’s a breakdown by cruise line:

Holland America:

If you’re sailing with Holland America, you can visit the Hands on Chocolate Experience, the Paper with Purpose, the Dominican Coffee Experience in Amber Cove (Dominican Republic) as well as the Explore Mexican Tradition with the Elders and the Coral Reef Restoration in Cozumel.

Princess Cruises:

If you’re sailing with Princess Cruises, you can visit the Hands on Chocolate Experience, the Paper with Purpose, the Dominican Coffee Experience in Amber Cove (Dominican Republic) as well as the Authentic Rastafari Experience in Jamaica and the Explore Mexican Tradition with the Elders and the Coral Reef Restoration in Cozumel.

P&O Cruises:

If you’re sailing with P&O, you can visit the Hands on Chocolate Experience and the Dominican Coffee Experience in Amber Cove (Dominican Republic) as well as the Authentic Rastafari Experience and the Taste of Jamaica from Farm to Table in Jamaica and the Explore Mexican Tradition with the Elders in Cozumel.

Cunard:

If you’re sailing with Cunard, you can visit the Hands on Chocolate Experience, the Paper with Purpose, the Dominican Coffee Experience in Amber Cove (Dominican Republic) as well as the Authentic Rastafari Experience in Jamaica.

Carnival Cruise Line:

If you’re sailing with Carnival, you can visit the Hands on Chocolate Experience in Amber Cove (Dominican Republic) as well as the the Authentic Rastafari Experience in Jamaica.

AIDA:

If you’re sailing with AIDA, you can visit the Hands on Chocolate Experience, the Paper with Purpose, the Dominican Coffee Experience in Amber Cove (Dominican Republic) as well as the Authentic Rastafari Experience in Jamaica and the Explore Mexican Tradition with the Elders in Cozumel.

Costa:

If you’re sailing with Costa, you can visit the Hands on Chocolate Experience and the Paper with Purpose in Amber Cove (Dominican Republic) as well as the Authentic Rastafari Experience and the Taste of Jamaica from Farm to Table in Jamaica and the Explore Mexican Tradition with the Elders in Cozumel.

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Still Unsure What Traveling with a Purpose is Really About? Check out the Fathom Excursions that We’ve Participated in:

Hands On Chocolate Experience at Chocal (Amber Cove – Dominican Republic)

Paper with Purpose (Amber Cove – Dominican Republic)

Turks & Caicos National Museum Restoration (Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos)

Music for the Soul (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

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How to Contact Your Favorite Cruise Line and Tell Them to Keep Up the Great Work! #TravelDeep

It’s imperative that the Cruise Lines that offer these excursions know that the experiences are important to you. Feedback is key. The lines take socials very seriously. If you want your favorite line to continue to offer these experiences or more, please take 2 seconds to tweet them. I’ve listed the Carnival Corp lines with their twitter below:

Holland America – @HALcruises

[bctt tweet=”Hi @HALcruises I just found out about the available Fathom Travel Excursions through your cruise line. Thank you for being awesome! #TravelDeep”]

Princess Cruise Line – @PrincessCruises

[bctt tweet=”Hi @PrincessCruises I just found out about the available Fathom Travel Excursions through your cruise line. Thank you for being awesome! #TravelDeep”]

P&O Cruises – @pandocruises

[bctt tweet=”Hi @pandocruises I just found out about the available Fathom Travel Excursions through your cruise line. Thank you for being awesome! #TravelDeep”]

Cunard – @cunardline

[bctt tweet=”Hi @cunardline I just found out about the available Fathom Travel Excursions through your cruise line. Thank you for being awesome! #TravelDeep”]

Carnival Cruise Line – @CarnivalCruise

[bctt tweet=”Hi @CarnivalCruise I just found out about the available Fathom Travel Excursions through your cruise line. Thank you for being awesome! #TravelDeep”]

AIDA – @aida_de

[bctt tweet=”Hi @aida_de I just found out about the available Fathom Travel Excursions through your cruise line. Thank you for being awesome! #TravelDeep”]

Costa – @CostaCruises

[bctt tweet=”Hi @CostaCruises I just found out about the available Fathom Travel Excursions through your cruise line. Thank you for being awesome! #TravelDeep”]

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Question Two: When Is the Next Fathom Cruise?

Here’s where my heart sinks to the bottom of the ocean never to return. That may be a tad dramatic but it’s true, I’m bummed. As of right this second there are no plans to do more Fathom Cruises. The excursions that I listed above will stay but the amazing Fathom Cruise that you saw us take on the Royal Princess is, as of now, not going to happen again. Here’s a message from Princess Cruises:

“Princess Cruises is always exploring ideas for unique experiences to offer our guests, whether on our cruise ships or at the ports we visit. The seven Travel Deep experiences in 2018 that we offered were very well received by our guests who participated, and who appreciated the opportunity to immerse themselves more deeply into communities in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico. At this time there will not be any Travel Deep sailings in 2019. We are glad we made Travel Deep experiences available in 2018, and it is always possible we may do so again.”

Hmm. Not the best answer. Not a definitive no, either. Very maybe we will, maybe we won’t. My recommendation? Take it to the socials. Seriously. Let’s all reach out to Princess via Twitter and tell them that Fathom was a wonderful idea and it needs to keep going. Don’t know where to start? Try this:

[bctt tweet=”Hi @PrincessCruises would you please reconsider bringing back the Travel Deep experiences? They were life changing and I want to do more. #TravelDeep”]

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WAIT. WHAT? MY FAVORITE CRUISE LINE ISN’T ON THE LIST!!

Don’t Worry. It’s cool. We have a plan. As of right this second, you can only participate in Fathom excursions if you are on one of the above mentioned Carnival Corporation cruise lines. Don’t fret. It’s time for change. 2019 is the year that the Cruise Community evolves for the best. It turns out that the blue stuff on the map connects us. It doesn’t divide us. So let’s help the lines realize that Travel with a Purpose, Travel Deep, Eco Travel, etc. it’s all fancy speech for being a good human. So let’s convince all of our favorite lines to be WAY into ‘good humaning‘ in 2019.

Let’s all reach out to our favorite lines and ask them nicely to #TravelDeep. The main emphasis here is being nice. Having worked directly with hundreds of execs from dozens of corporations, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that kindness goes much further than rants or threats. Please don’t threaten to sail another line or pull your money from an existing sailing, etc. Let’s reach out to our favorite lines and ask them to all help make a difference, to offer travel with a purpose and to help give back to the very places that we cruise so often.

Royal Caribbean

[bctt tweet=”Hi @RoyalCaribbean I just found out about traveling with a purpose and giving back to the communities we sail to, is this something your line would consider offering in the future? #TravelDeep “]

Norwegian Cruise Line

[bctt tweet=”Hi @CruiseNorwegian I just found out about traveling with a purpose and giving back to the communities we sail to, is this something your line would consider offering in the future? #TravelDeep “]

Celebrity Cruises

[bctt tweet=”Hi @CelebrityCruise I just found out about traveling with a purpose and giving back to the communities we sail to, is this something your line would consider offering in the future? #TravelDeep “]

MSC Cruises

[bctt tweet=”Hi @MSCCruisesUSA I just found out about traveling with a purpose and giving back to the communities we sail to, is this something your line would consider offering in the future? #TravelDeep “]

Disney Cruise Line

[bctt tweet=”Hi @DisneyCruise I just found out about traveling with a purpose and giving back to the communities we sail to, is this something your line would consider offering in the future? #TravelDeep “]

TUI

[bctt tweet=”Hi @TUIUK I just found out about traveling with a purpose and giving back to the communities we sail to, is this something your line would consider offering in the future? #TravelDeep “]

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Did we miss your favorite cruise line? Have you participated in a Fathom Excursion? Do you want to #TravelDeep? Let us know in the comments below.